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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
William Mata

easyJet flight to London Gatwick forced to divert after midair brawl between 'drunk' passengers

An EasyJet plane flying from Turkey to London Gatwick was forced to divert when two men squared up to each other in the aisle.

The captain urged the men to calm down over the flight's PA system as they were seen shouting and swearing at each other on Tuesday, October 1.

Despite pleas from staff and other passengers, the plane had to divert to Athens, Greece, as the two men were on the verge of a physical altercation.

One of the men is led away by a flight attendant (@flashman86 / TikTok)

The captain announced: “This is the captain speaking. To the people who are fighting, the police are waiting for you at the gate.

“You’re only making things worse for yourself. Please sit down.”

One of the men fighting was wearing a gilet over his naked upper body and both appeared to be drunk.

A video of the incident attracted thousands of views and comments after circulating on TikTok.

A spokesman for the airline said: “easyJet can confirm that flight EZY8558 from Antalya to London Gatwick on 1 October diverted to Athens and was met by police after landing due to a passenger behaving disruptively onboard.

“easyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.

“Whilst such incidents are rare, we take them very seriously and do not tolerate disruptive behaviour onboard.

“The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority.”

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